Seven Industrial Towns
The Gem of the Piedmont
Bv BILL SHARPE
Look closely at Rockingham, be¬
cause it has the sort of development
most rural counties are striving for.
For over 200 miles William Byrd
straddled the Virginia-North Carolina
line without ever uttering a kind word
about this province. Then he came to
a rolling Piedmont country, drained
by a clear, sparkling river which had
numerous tributaries. Along these wa¬
tercourses were fertile meadow lands,
often covered with nutritious reeds,
and on the ridges were great forests.
Deer, bear and wild turkey were in
such abundance that the surveyors
needed only biscuits to supplement the
bounty of the woods and fields.
It was the valley of the Dan. now
Rockingham County. Byrd called it
"a land rich even unto the fabled lands
about Babylon."
When the North Carolina commis¬
sioners received 20.000 acres of this
area in payment for their surveying
job, Byrd bought it from them, and
named it "Eden." His tract was
bounded by 15 miles of the Virginia
border, dipped one mile south at the
cast end and 3 miles south at the
western end.
Byrd never settled on his Eden;
there is a deflating tradition to the ef¬
fect that he lost the whole shebang in
a card game.
An Empty Eden
When Byrd and his helpers entered
the Dan Valley in 1728. it was a true
wilderness. There is no mention in his
diary of meeting a human soul in the
area, though explorers and Indian trad¬
ers earlier had passed that way. The
Saura Indians once had two towns
near Lcaksville and Spray, but both
were abandoned when Byrd arrived,
the inhabitants fleeing before the fre¬
quent excursions of the war-like Sene¬
cas from the north. (See page 13.)
To look at it now. you wouldn't
think of the silted, muddy Dan as a
navigable stream. Perhaps it contained
more water 200 years ago. At any rate,
it was used for communication, the
first settlements were made on its
banks, and most of the county's de¬
velopment and history follow its
Ruffin
course. Along in 1750. a large chunk
of the land south of Byrd's line
was surveyed and claimed by Robert
Jones. N. C. attorney-general, and a
partner. Daniel Weldon. They sold
thousands of acres to settlers for as
little as 17 cents per acre. and. ac¬
cording to the tempo of that day
and place, settlement followed swiftly.
Created in 1785
The county itself was formed from
Guilford in 1785 and named for
Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis
of Rockingham, a sympathizer of the
Patriot Cause. The first courthouse
was established at Eagle Falls, but later
was moved to Wentworth, center of
the county.
V/
miles away.
It is a good-sized county —
370,56»
Thompsonville
acres, with a population of 64.816. Its
topography is pleasantly varied, rang¬
ing from large, flat bottomlands to
ridges which the natives name as
mountains. The Sauratowns and the
Blue Ridges loom in the west. The
county lies in two basins — most of
its water drains into the Dan and
thence to the Roanoke, but the Haw
River taps the southeastern corner and
carries its waters to the Cape Fear.
There arc also the Mayo and Smith
rivers and numerous creeks.
It has been well cut over, though
around 160.000 acres are classified
as forest land. Shortleaf pine, spruce
pine, hickory, poplar and oak are the
principal species and still furnish some
milling.
The weather is characteristically
Piedmont, with a moderate growing
season of 203 days, a mean annual
temperature of 59.7 and average
snowfall of 1 1 .4. The average rain¬
fall of 43.86 is well below the state
average of 50 inches.
A strip of Triassic shales and clays
runs through part of the county, and
is utilized by the Pine Hall Brick Com¬
pany at Madison. Coal and lead oc-
s’°.-
«•
EnI"*d a» »econd-cla.i» matter. June I. 1933. at the Poitomce at Raleigh. North Carolina, under the act of
March 3. 1879. PubUihed by Sharpe PubUthlng Co.. Inc., Lawyer» Bid*.. Raleigh. N.
С.
Copyright. 1953. by the Sharpe PublHhing Co., Inc.
